Sightlines · reception
How Hamlet was received
1996 · Kenneth Branagh · Hamlet on Sightlines
The arc
Dismissed by some in 1996 as Branagh's four-hour folly — it barely made back a fraction of its budget — it's since been re-embraced as the definitive full-text Hamlet on film, with its 70mm photography now a major draw at repertory screenings.
What’s debated
The eternal debate: is the wall-to-wall stunt casting (Billy Crystal as the gravedigger, Robin Williams, Jack Lemmon, Gérard Depardieu) a delightful flex or a fatal distraction — and is the uncut four hours devotion or ego?
Its footprint
The image of Branagh delivering 'To be or not to be' into a two-way mirror is endlessly screencapped, and the film remains the classroom Hamlet — the version a generation of students was shown in full.
Where it stands
A canon climber among Shakespeare adaptations: too long to be casual viewing, but a 'you must see it once, in 70mm if you can' badge of honor for cinephiles.
Did you know? It was one of the last features of its era shot on 65mm film, and Branagh earned a Best Adapted Screenplay Oscar nomination for a script that is essentially Shakespeare's play uncut — adapting without cutting a word.
Named by the director
- David Lean — Branagh pitched the film as a David Lean-style 70mm screen epic, invoking Lean's grand-scale filmmaking as the model for its scope.